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A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-arid climates, depending on variables such as temperature, and they give rise to different biomes.
Semi-arid lands; Arid lands; Hyper-arid lands; Some authorities regard hyper-arid lands as deserts (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification - UNCCD) although a number of the world's deserts include both hyper-arid and arid climate zones. The UNCCD excludes hyper-arid zones from its definition of drylands.
Desert and semi-arid climates are defined by low precipitation in a region that does not fit the polar (EF or ET) criteria of no month with an average temperature greater than 10 °C (50 °F). The precipitation threshold in millimeters is determined by multiplying the average annual temperature in Celsius by 20, then adding:
The term steppe climate denotes a semi-arid climate, which is encountered in regions too dry to support a forest, but not dry enough to be a desert. [2] [3] Steppes are usually characterized by a semi-arid or continental [citation needed] climate. Extremes can be recorded in the summer of up to 45 °C (115 °F) and in winter of down to −55 ...
Places with more than three months of average daily temperatures above 10 °C (50 °F) and a coldest month temperature below −3 °C (27 °F) and which do not meet the criteria for an arid or semi-arid climate, are classified as continental. Most climates in this zone are found from 35 latitude to 55 latitude, mostly in the northern hemisphere.
However Wladimir Köppen has distinguished the hot or subtropical and tropical (semi-)arid climates (BWh or BSh) having an average annual temperature greater than or equal to 18 °C (64.4 °F) from the cold or temperate (semi-)arid climates (BWk or BSk) whose annual temperature average is lower. [3]
Semi-arid Niger. A semi-arid desert or a steppe is a version of the arid desert with much more rainfall, vegetation and higher humidity. These regions feature a semi-arid climate and are less extreme than regular deserts. [34] Like arid deserts, temperatures can vary greatly in semi deserts.
The climate is temperate and ranges from semi-arid to semi-humid. The habitat type differs from tropical grasslands in the annual temperature regime and the types of species found here. [1] The habitat type is known as prairie in North America, pampas in South America, veld in Southern Africa and steppe in Asia.